'Gutless' charts Westport woman's near-death experience

Joe Meyers

Published 2:59 pm, Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Writer-director Jerold Goldstein and performer and writer Amy Oestreicher talk about the one-woman show they've created, "Gutless & Grateful," that will be playing the Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport Saturday and Sunday, June 1 and 2.

Photo: Contributed Photo

Writer-director Jerold Goldstein and performer and writer Amy...

Westport actress and singer Amy Oestreicher has turned the story of a medical catastrophe that nearly killed her into a one-woman show, "Gutless & Grateful" set for Bridgeport's Bijou Theatre on Saturday and Sunday, June 1 and 2.
Photo: Contributed Photo

Westport actress and singer Amy Oestreicher has turned the story of...

After a test run in New York City last fall, Amy Oestreicher of Westport is bringing her new one-woman show "Gutless & Grateful" to the Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport Saturday and Sunday, June 1 and 2.
Photo: Contributed Photo

After a test run in New York City last fall, Amy Oestreicher of...

A medical disaster and its aftermath are the subject of a new autobiographical one-woman show, "Gutless & Grateful," written by and starring Amy Oestreicher of Westport. The musical theater piece will play the Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport Saturday and Sunday, June 1 and 2.
Photo: Contributed Photo

A theater dream that was interrupted by a terrible medical event and years of recovery is finally coming true for Amy Oestreicher.

A decade ago, while she was getting ready to finish high school and pursue a career on stage, Oestreicher was hit by a searing pain, and rushed to a hospital, where a blood clot destroyed her stomach and collapsed both lungs.

The girl was in a coma for weeks and when she awoke was told she could not eat or drink and might not ever do that again.

To make a long and harrowing story short, Oestreicher underwent 24 surgeries over three years that reconstructed her internal organs, and finally gave her a system that digests food.

The journals Oestreicher kept during those years were the seed for a new one-woman musical show, "Gutless & Grateful: A Second Helping," which she tested out at the the Triad in New York City last fall and is bringing to the Bijou Theatre in Bridgeport for two performances on Saturday and Sunday, June 1 and 2.

"I'm just trying to tell my story from an honest place. ... I had days where I wondered, `Why is this happening to me?' but I have an optimistic disposition," Oestreicher said in an interview last week.

The Westport woman's partner in putting the show together is Stratford actor and musician Jerold Goldstein, who has known Oestreicher since she was a young teen in one of his theater classes.

The two worked together on shows and became friends. "The first time I heard that lovely voice, I thought, `This girl has talent,' " he recalled.

Goldstein shared a Passover dinner with the Oestreicher family the night before Amy was rushed to Bridgeport Hospital.

Many months later, after she survived the worst moments, Amy shared a new goal with her former teacher.

"She told me she wanted to do an act (about her experience)," Goldstein said of meeting with Oestreicher for a reading of some of the journal material she had pulled together. "I knew right away that this was more than an act ... it was something very special."

"It's great to be able to do the show with Jerold because he lived through it with me," Oestreicher said of her collaborator being a frequent hospital visitor during some of the darkest times.

"Gutless & Grateful" tells Oestreicher's story in her own words and through carefully selected songs, including tunes like "Food Glorious Food" from "Oliver!" and a new song David Friedman and Kathie Lee Gifford wrote for the show.

Both of the creators stress the fact that the musical play is infused with humor.

"The situation was so absurd and so unique ... it's a true story but it's not depressing. ...We give you permission to laugh right away," Oestreicher said.

The actress and singer always appreciated Goldstein's toughness when she was a student in one of his classes and that characteristic has been crucial in the development of "Gutless & Grateful."

"It's been very cool to go mano a mano with someone who has known me since I was 13," she said, adding that Goldstein's mantra for her stage alter-ego has been "Don't whine!"

The show will return to the Triad in Manhattan on Sunday, June 16, and Monday, June 24, and then it is off to the Berkshires for a summer engagement at Barrington Stage.

"Our plan is to try to find a producer and try to get an extended run off-Broadway," Oestreicher said.